Michael Hibbard

Tag: elementary particles

Initially, I was going to write about gravity as my next foray into exploring our universe. But over the last few days I’ve had some very interesting conversations and read some interesting material that has changed my mind.

Today I want to discuss the only way we can truly understand the universe — Enlightenment.

This has been something that I have been struggling with since first I heard the term, then understood the process. However, I am not talking about Buddhist enlightenment, where by attaining enlightenment frees us from rebirth. I am talking about enlightenment in the sense that the universe reveals itself to you, thereby revealing you to yourself.

We have spent a great deal of time and energy to measure, quantify and categorize all the things that make up the universe. We done a bang up job at this. We’ve discovered elementary particles quarks, electrons, neutrons, protons and muons, to name a few. We’ve discovered black holes, quasars, neutron stars, gamma ray bursts and planets far beyond our tiny little solar system. We have discovered limitations, rules, equations and barriers. We have sent ourselves and objects hurtling into the jungle beyond, crying out for someone else in the darkness. And what has this produced? Just more questions. There will always be questions, and they will never end until we know everything. But what’s the point of existing if you know everything.

I have had some moments where I can see lucidly, beyond my own human flaws, fears and insecurities. Moments where you can connect with someone on an indescribably level, or moments when the answer just falls out of the sky and begs me to accept it. So my most recent, yet fleeting moment of enlightenment was actually a proper definition of what enlightenment really is.

Enlightenment is accepting the simple fact that we are the universe. All of these little particles and atoms we are made of were created out of necessity for us to explore the physical universe, which is only 4% of the entire universe. And that 4% is unimaginably massive. We can’t even see the entire universe with our telescopes, we can only see as far as the light reaching us originate from, so no one really knows how far it goes. It is the greatest mystery, and the greatest adventure. And we create these mysteries for ourselves, to entertain ourselves, just like the games we invent, or the books we write. Life is the same, we live a time as someone or something, then we move on to experience something new. Understanding the universe will begin when we truly understand ourselves.

I believe there are two ways that we can explore the universe. The first is rebirth. We move from body to body, world to world, exploring, living, enjoying. We are constantly being reborn, and it doesn’t have to be here on this planet. There are more planets than stars in the universe, and there is most definitely life on these other planets. I do not know this, I feel this — if we are all the universe, then we are connected to life forms on every planet that does or had existed. In this life I am Michael, in a previous life I could have been a flapper in the 1920’s, or a scientist on a far distant planet that has sent my own message to find life elsewhere.

We are not limited to these bodies, nor must we die to explore because the second way is through transcendence and allowing our souls to detach from our machine and roam freely, knowing that we can return at anytime. Life when you sleep, where do you truly go? Have you ever been someplace in a dream that you’ve never been, then at a later date, you visit and have an overwhelming sense of deja vu? This is transcendence, we do it all the time, we just don’t remember it completely because our brain returns our focus to the waking state, and slowly forgets the dream because it doesn’t pertain to the here and now.

The creator and god are not the same, in my opinion. I posit that the creator was the architect, and god was the engineer. And since we engineer our reality, we must be god. We have gotten so wrapped around the axle about god and who created the universe, and we’ve forgotten how powerful we truly are – how powerful all life is. An ant can carry 50 times its weight. Humpback whales have a language of song. We humans have awareness. And awareness allows us to explore the aspects of enlightenment.

I’m beginning to feel as if I am approaching this enlightenment. Petty things that once mattered to me have fallen by the wayside. I seldom sit in front of the computer or TV anymore — I work I’m outside, engage in conversation with someone, or listen to the thrushes that live in my garage. I have lain on the grass in my back yard, and stared up at Jupiter and felt its pull on me. This is how it all begins. Just letting your mind free from the taught reality. Let your mind wander into your own reality — it is what makes life so interesting, makes each moment wonderful.

So I will end today’s post with a simple question: Have you ever felt one with the universe?